Commercial Aviation News

United Airlines appears to have scrapped any plans regarding the Boeing 737 MAX. It suggests that it does not expect the MAX to be flying this Summer when it is peak season. It is approaching a year since the 737 MAX family has been grounded from commercial operations. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not given a timeline or scope as to when the trouble aircraft type will return to service but Boeing thinks it will be by mid-2020. United themselves think otherwise having removed the MAX from its flying schedule into June 2020.

AVIC is looking to produce a new regional turboprop called the MA700. The first flight is expected to happen later this year. The wings were mated with the fuselage last September. To date, AVIC says the MA700 has 285 orders from 11 operators. The aircraft, to be powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150C engines, is suitable for "short distance feeder transportation" of about 800km. By mid-year the first aircraft is expected to come off the production line and then prepared for first flight towards the end of this year.

Boeing could be on the cusp of making the first flight of its new Boeing 777X airplane. As soon as Thursday January 23 dependent on other factors and the weather it could be the first time the large new generation of the 777 takes to the skies. Boeing has had a terrible last year and a half on many sides of its portfolio particularly on its commercial side. It has been grappling with the fallout from the 737 MAX tragedies as well as re-certification issues. The Boeing 777X itself has had a myriad of issues including stress/pressure testing, engine woes etc. The fallout for the MAX crisis led to the ousting of the CEO and now dealing with a new one. Even on their defense section, the 767 derived KC-46 tanker has many problems. Let's wait and see if the 777X will fly this week.

It appears the first flight of the 777X has been delayed once again until tomorrow because of weather related issues.

Commercial snow condition arrivals and departures in YVR (Vancouver).

It appears that the Polish Aviation Group (PEG), the parent company of LOT Polish Airlines has agreed to buy Condor Airlines. Condor is the main survivor of the Thomas Cook Group crash/demise in 2019 and itself is in financial straits. The offer is expected to extend the life of Condor significantly and keep them known as Germany's popular leisure travel airline.

Looks like we will have the first flight of the Boeing 777X happening today. The aircraft is currently holding short of 34L at Paine Field.

...and here is it landing after the first test flight.

Sam Chui and the Boeing 777X.

Looks like the Boeing 787 production rate is going to be cut again. From 2021, the rate is expected to be dropped to 10 per month which would be down from the current 14 per month. In the full-year earnings release on 29 January, the company said it would trim production further, to 10 DreamLiners per month in “early 2021”, returning to 12 aircraft per month in 2023.

It looks like the Mitsubishi 'SPACEJET' will face another delay which will serve to knock the entry into service off by another year potentially. The first jet a SPACE JET M90 was supposed to be delivered to ANA by mid-2020 but the delay will put the plane back to the end of 2021 or even in 2022 it appears. They decline to comment on the issue but it appears that a delay in the shipment of parts is being blamed for this fresh delay.

Air France has taken delivery of its latest Airbus A350 which represents the 350th overall A350 to date. For the 2020 summer season* (schedule to change), Air France will serve 6 long-haul destinations by Airbus A350 on departure from Paris-Charles de Gaulle - Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Bamako (Mali), Bangkok (Thailand), Atlanta, Boston, Washington (USA). The #350th aircraft overall in the program is called "NICE" which is a nod to the French seaside city on the French Riviera. Air France should have 38 Airbus A350s by the year 2025 if all goes according to plan. The AF A350 has 324 seats in a 3-classes.

Aeroflot's first Airbus A350-900 made its first flight last Monday and stayed in the air for around three-hours during that initial test flight before returning to Toulouse (TLS).

American carrier jetBlue is celebrating 20 years in the skies since launching back in the year 2000. The fledgling airline back then has grown so much into what it is today and no one took it seriously at the time. David Neeleman is the name best known behind the airline for starting it and he has gone on to form several other airlines since then including Azul in Brazil, Westjet in Canada, Morris Air as well as his newest endeavour called BreEZe (Moxy). He also is instrumental in TAP air Portugal. The Brazilian-American businessman's name is adorned on the first A321neo that jetBlue took delivery of.

I still honestly cannot believe it. Maybe it was the CSeries that sunk them.

Sam Chui flies the Antonov An-124-100.

That too...but they probably did not estimate the spiraling cost to bring a full-size commercial airliner to service. Regional jets is one thing that all have commonality with each other. A much larger single-aisle commercial jet on the scale of what Airbus and Boeing make is another story.

The Airbus A330-800, the smaller sister of the A330-900neo has been given EASA type certification. The aircraft’s certification flight-test campaign was successfully performed by aircraft MSN1888, which completed the program in 370 flight test hours and 132 flights since its first flight in November 2018. There are 337 concrete orders for this aircraft so far. The plane will seat generally from 220 to 260 in a three-class configuration. However, an airline can opt for 406 in a high-density one class layout.